Sunday 8 January 2012

Odisha HR Bulletin-4


Women's panel admits 'raped' teen into hospital
BHUBANESWAR: A 19-year-old woman on Saturday approached the State Commission forWomen alleging police inaction into the alleged rape and murder attempt on her.
Her family members said she fears for her life. She was allegedly raped for being a court witness in a similar crime.
The woman from Arjanguda village within Pipli police limits was allegedly found naked and unconscious by passersby on November 28 minutes after she went to attend nature's call. "We had taken her to Capital Hospital and from there to SCB Medical College and Hospital after that. But we had to leave the hospital after a few days as we could not afford the treatment. She is still critically ill," said the victim's father.
After the family approached the SCW on Saturday, the SCW arranged to shift her to hospital again on Saturday. "The woman was critical and needed medical help. We first took her to Capital Hospital. But she can't get psychological and neurological help here. That is why on medical advice, she was referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital," said Jyoti Panigrahi, chairperson of SCW, adding "the commission will ensure that she gets justice."
Family sources, however, said they chose not go to Cuttack again as they can't afford treatment there. Instead, they shifted her to a relative's place in Bhubaneswar.

Court denies bail to Kujang cracker blast accused
KENDRAPADA: A court in Jagatsinghpur district on Sunday turned down the bail plea of Subash Rout, the main accused in the recent Kujang cracker blast case that had killed four persons. The development followed the Jagatsinghpur police bringing Rout to Odisha on Saturday night after he was arrested in Puducherry on Thursday.
"Rout was first produced in a court in Puducherry. He was on Sunday produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) in Kujang. The court rejected his bail petition and sent him to judicial custody," said Santanu Das, the sub- divisional police officer (SDPO) of Paradip. 

Police had earlier filed a case against Rout and others under section- 9 of Explosive Act and 147, 148, 337 and 338 of IPC. Rout was carrying crackers in a truck when the mishap occurred, police said. After this incident, Rout managed to flee from his village. After getting tip off, a police team rushed to Puducherry and arrested him on Thursday. 
Sources said the Jagatsinghpur SP, Debadutta Singh, and other senior police officers interrogated Rout for three hours after his arrival on Saturday night. Rout is a cracker maker of Balia village near Kujang. 
Four Dalit drummers had succumbed to burn injuries and at least six persons were injured on November 16 after crackers exploded in a procession of Biju Patnaik Workers' Union organized by BJD MLA of Cuttack- Barabati, Debasish Samantray, Jagatsinghpur MLA Bishnu Das and others. BJD leaders and their supporters were going in a procession to attend a meeting of the trade union in Paradip while the crackers exploded in truck. 

The incident had snowballed into a major political controversy with former minister and Paradip MLA Damodar Rout locking horns with Debashish Samantray and Bishnu Das over the mishap.

HC vacates stay on Kandhamal nun rape case
CUTTACK: Orissa High Court has vacated a stay on the trial proceedings in the Kandhamal nun rape case. The court had imposed the stay in June last year while adjudicating a petition filed by the nun.
The nun had appealed to the high court to recall the judicial magistrate who had conducted the test identification parade of the accused. She had alleged that the magistrate had misrepresented her statement to the trial court.
Earlier, she had filed a petition in the trial court, but it was rejected on May 16 last year. Subsequently, she had challenged it in the high court.
The defence counsel had opposed the plea, stating that the magistrate had followed all procedures properly and had alleged that the nun was trying to delay to trial proceedings. "We told the court that the nun had not raised any objection during hearing in the trial court. When the hearing was in the last leg, the nun raised such an objection to delay the trial proceedings,"said Sarbeswar Behera, counsel of the accused, after the high court order on Friday.
While disposing of the petition, Justice C R Dash advised the nun to raise her grievances in the trial court. Notably, the trial hearing of the case was going on at the district and session court, Cuttack, but it was stopped midway in June last year, due to the stay order.

Angul villagers protest land acquisition
ANGUL: The Odisha government's decision to set up a 1980 MW power plant by J R Power Jain Company at Kishore Nagar, about 85 km from here, is facing strong opposition from locals. TheJibana Jibika Krushi and Krusaka Surakshya Committee (JJKKSC) observed a 12-hour bandh on Friday in protest against the proposed power plant.
People have been opposing the plant as they stand to lose fertile agricultural land and forest cover in its wake. They have been demanding immediate scrapping of the deal by the state government.
The state government had issued a notification under section 4(1) of Orissa Land Acquisition Act two years ago for acquisition of land for the project. Irked over the decision, hundreds of locals of about 15 villages of Kishore Nagar block, under the banner of JJKKSC, observed the bandh on Friday. Agitators squatted on National Highway 55 and blocked rail traffic near Bamur. Some protesters reportedly took out a rally in the morning earlier.
All government and private offices, schools, colleges and banks remained closed in the area. All business establishments downed their shutters and road and rail traffic was disrupted. All passenger and express trains plying on Bamur-Boinda route were cancelled. Sambalpur-Puri Intercity Express, Bhubaneswar-Balangir, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar, Puri-Jodhpu and Puri-Nizammuddin Express trains were cancelled due to the bandh, railway sources said.
Five platoons of police force were deployed to maintain law and order in the area and no untoward incidents were reported during the bandh.
Ramani Ranjana Pradhan, a resident of Jairat village said the state government notified for 4(1) of Land Acquisition Act without taking them into confidence. "The area which is notified for the project is highly fertile for paddy and other crops. Setting up the power plant here would not only affect the livelihood of farmers but will also have an adverse impact on the environment," he said.
The company will acquire 1,000 acres of land, out of which 300 acres are government land. Villages like Dhaurapalli, Barada Malia, Karamala Kata and Baija are going to be affected due to the project.
Dinabandhu Pradhan, president of JJKKSC said, "Our main demand is cancellation of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the company and the state government in the year 2009. We have asked the district administration to relocate the plant elsewhere and we have been opposing the power plant for the past two years. If the state government continues to acquire land for the project, there will be more opposition in the coming days."
The state government should instead focus on developing irrigation system in the area, Pradhan said, demanding the government should start the construction work of Sureswari Irrigation Project, the foundation stone of which has already been laid by state transport and commerce minister Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo.
When contacted, district collector Siba Prsada Mishra refused to divulge anything on the issue. However, Athamallik sub-collector Sudarsana Sethy said the demands of the locals have been forwarded to the state government for consideration. He said if people feel any discrepancies have been meted out to them in issuing the 4(1) notice, they should come to the table for a discussion.

Road accidents claim 3,900 lives in a year

Odisha witnesses around more than 9,000 road accidents every year that kill over 3,900 and leave 11,000 plus others injured, revealed Chief Secretary BK Patnaik. He was speaking at the closing ceremony of the State Level Road Safety Week held here on Saturday.
Principal Secretary, Commerce &Transport GK Dhal, Transport Commissioner Surendra Kumar and Khurda Collector Roopa Mishra were present at the meeting.
While rash driving, overloading, untrained drivers and poor roads are among the factors that have led to the rise in fatal accidents, a majority (94 per cent) of them were due to drunk driving and human error, pointed out the Chief Secretary. In the last two years alone, 7,464 people lost their lives in road mishaps.
The State Government has now decided to concentrate on proper training to the untrained drivers and initiated talks with Maruti Suzuki and many other automakers to set up modern driving training institutions in the State, Patnaik said. Odisha is the third State to set up a driving training institute with the help of the largest automaker, Ashok Leyland in Jajpur district. Every year, more than 3,000 drivers would be trained in this institution, he said.
Dhal revealed that the Government would frame tough rules gainst drunken driving. Such drivers’ licences would be cancelled.
He informed that there are 30 lakh vehicles in the State, and the number is rising at a rate of six per cent to seven per cent every year. And the number would reach the 45-lakh mark during the next 10 years.
The Transport Commissioner said that every year the country loses Rs one lakh crore due to road accidents, which is three per cent of the nation’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Road accident have turned epidemic with 94 per cent of the mishaps being caused by untrained and drunken drivers.
He said the Government is mulling use of speed governors in three-wheelers and four-wheelers. Roopa Mishra said that as many as 6.5 lakh vehicles are running in the State capital and out of them 22,000 are auto-rickshaws.

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